• got out o f the line o f the troops towards the plain, fpurred
m y horfe, and arrived at the body o f cavalry where the
k in g was.
As I had a white turban upon my head, (having ihaveff
the fore part o f it after the blow I had received frpm the
Hone) I was employed taking this off before I prefented
myfelf to the king, when fomebody faid out loud, Ozoro
Efther is taken prifoner. Ras Michael anfwered, That is im-
poffible; Ozoro Efther is here. It is Ozoro Altalh and the
Abuna, faid I, from behind; I came juft now from them.
By whom are. they taken ? fays the king. By the Galla, I
believe, anfwered I ; at leaft by men whofe language I did
not .underftand, though indeed I took no. time to coniider,.
hut they, are clofe in our rear, and I fuppofe they will be:
here prefently. Here I fays the Ras, what w ill they do .
here? It muft be Powuffen,and the troops o f Lafta, to recover
his mother-in-law, that Ihe may not go to Gondar
and it is the Tcheratz Agow language that Yagoube has
taken for Galla. It is fo, fays another horfeman; the people
o f Lafta have carried h er off, but without hurting any body.
This I thought a good fign, and that they were under orders,
for a bloodier or more cruel race was not in the army,,
the Galla not excepted; and they had met with their deferts,,
and had fuffered coniiderably in the courfe o f this ihorfc
campaign-
T he whole road was now as imooth as a carpet; and we-
had fcarce done fpeaking when Ras Michael’s mule fell
flat on the ground, and threw him upon his face in a. fmall
puddle o f water. He was quickly lifted up unhurt, and fet
upon his mule again. We paffed the Mogetch, and at about
4 ' 111
4'eo yards from the bridge, upon ground equally plain
as the former, the mule fell again, and threw the Ras another
time in the dirt, on which a general murmur and
groan was heard from all his attendants, for every body
interpreted this as an omen that his power and fortune
were gone from him for ever. Another mule was fpeedily
brought, but he refufed to mount it, and we palled' on b y
the Mahometan town, and up to Confu’s houfe, b y Aylo-
Meidan. I could not, however, help reflecting how juftly
the Ras was now puniihed for the murder o f the fingers in
that very fpot, when he returned from Mariam-Ohha and
entered Gondar. The Ifing went direftly to the palace, the
Ras to his own houfe, and, by the fecretary’s advice, I went
with him to that, o f the Abuna, where I left my Greek fer-
vants with my gold chain, and fome trifles I wanted to pre-
fetve, together with my inftruments. I then dreffed myfelf
in the habit o f peace, and returned to the palace, where, remembering
the advice o f Gufho, I refolved to expect my fate
with the king. Upon feeing me with the fore part o f my
head ihaven, and remembering the caufe, as his firft mark
o f favour he ordered me to covef my head, a thing other-
wife not permitted in the k in g ’s prefence to any o f his
houfehold.
T he k in g ’s fervants brought me a bull’s hide for my bed;
and although many a night I have wanted reft upon lefs
ddngerous occafions, I fcarcely ever flept more foundly, till
,1 heard the cracking o f the whips of the Serach Mafiery,
about five o’clock in the morning o f the 29th. He performs
this funftion much louder than a French poftilion upon
finifliing a poft, it being the fignal for the k in g to rife. There
was, indeed, no occafion fo r this cuftom, now there was no
F f a , * court,